February 19, 2003

By RYAN SABEY, DAVID K. LI and KATE SHEEHY

"Joe Millionaire" winner Zora Andrich yesterday told The Post she was "feeling really great at the moment," although some close to her said she's already been hit by fame's downside.

The pretty brunette, picked by fake millionaire Evan Marriott during Monday's finale as "the girl he'd most like to continue dating," hurriedly spoke via cell phone while in hiding until next week's "follow-up" show.

"I can't talk right now," said Andrich, who's reportedly already in Los Angeles.

Then, apparently unaware that over 40 million people watched the show on Monday night, she added, "Why are people so interested in me?"

A former student close to the aspiring actress-turned-substitute-teacher said Andrich has been particularly jittery about the publicity she's been getting - especially after receiving an anonymous note from "an admirer" since the show began.

Gabrielle Dudbridge, 15, of South Hunterdon HS in New Jersey, where Andrich taught until last year, said the popular instructor "moved out of town because someone sent her flowers to her [Lambertville] apartment, and the message read, 'Do you want to go out on a real date?'

"She thought it was a bit freakish," Dudbridge said.

Andrich and Marriott will meet again in front of the cameras in a special show next Monday. Show producers refused to say whether the pair has seen each other since the filming of the show's series finale last Thanksgiving.

Since then, Marriott, a construction worker and model, has reportedly been staying in L.A., although he was recently spotted in the Big Apple.

Andrich and Marriott split a surprise $1 million "bonus" from the show.

Fox also will send Marriott on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii as a way to say "thanks" for the huge "Joe Millionaire" ratings, sources told The Post. There's no word yet on whether Zora will go with him.

Meanwhile, Monday night, just after the show in which Marriott ditched blond contestant Sarah Kozer in favor of Andrich, Kozer licked her wounds with two gal pals at a trendy Hollywood bar.